Title: Captivating
Author: John and Stasi Eldredge
This book is about unveiling the mystery of a woman's Christian soul.
I can't say that this was one of the best books that I've read. I can't even say that this book was a good read period. So first off, I don't recommend this book - whether you are Christian or not. Except maybe if you were beaten, raped or have really low self-confidence, then maybe (and that's a big maybe), this book might help.
Immediately, the book turned me off with ... "Every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty." [page 8]. EVERY woman huh? This sentence is either too specific (and thus wrong) or too general (and thus worthless) - it can't be both, take your pick. What then continued to chagrin me is the continual referral to movies and fiction in order to prove "real" (non-fictitious) points. Talk about credibility.
It's not that I can't sympathize with the hardships that she's been through, and most of the book is based on women and their struggles and hardships...divorce, rape, relationship stress with family etc. She was very brave to share all that with her readers. I'm glad she was able to get over them, but if that's the basis of forming a relationship with god, then no thanks. However, much to my dismay, along the next several chapters, I came upon the following that really disturbed me.
"God says he will thwart our efforts to find life apart from him -- Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way; She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them [Hos. 2:6-7]. He does this, as we said, in order to wear us out, get us to turn back to him in thirsty longing." [page 121]
God puts obstacles to wear us out...and when we have no where else to turn to, we pretty much have to turn to him - love him. Does that sound wrong or is it just me? That's like some psychopath who is in love with you (but not you with him); he kidnaps you, locks you up and breaks you down mentally to the point that in order to make it all stop, you fall in love with him beacause that is what he wants, because then the pain will stop. Scary. The authors also mentioned that god wants us to have a heart at rest (thus it is more inviting) and to have heart at rest, one must release fear. Well...taken from that passage above, fear is what drives one to love him is it not? Or is it desperation? Who is not fearful of being desperate though?
Moving on. What I can't stand is the generalization "most women" or "most of us"...I'm sorry, but until you've personally communicated with the 3+ billion women around the world, or even just half of the Christian women in this world, don't use that generalization. It makes one sound self centred at best and ignorant at worst.
I'm still trying to finish the book so I may add more critique, so go ahead and read it after what I've said...if you want :)
C
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Case for Christ
In general, this was a well written book. He does build a strong case for Christ with his arguments and evidence, using 'typical' law rules to prove his case. Eye Witness, Historical Evidence, Expert Testimony and so on. He makes references in the bible to test consistency of the writings and events. All in all, it's not something scholars have never thought of - Lee Strobel verbalized it well.
There are however, 'holes' to his logic if you will.
1. No expert testimony from the opposing view. To get a holistic picture and to present a well balanced case, seeing as this is one of his 'key' premises to proving the case for Christ.
2. He makes a case for the authenticity of the document against the Illiad. If the Illiad is inaccurate from the beginning and has x number of versions, it doesn't matter how many translations it's been through, or version control or whatever, it is still inaccurate. Making a comparison to this book does not increase the bible's authenticity. He quotes the nature and stature of those who kept those records as time goes by and the strictness of versioning. Well, if the 'original' was wrong to begin with, it doesn't matter how strict the Church maintains its versioning control, you're maintaining strict control of inaccuracy.
Those were my biggest objections to his logic. All in all, it was a well written book and I do recommend it.
There are however, 'holes' to his logic if you will.
1. No expert testimony from the opposing view. To get a holistic picture and to present a well balanced case, seeing as this is one of his 'key' premises to proving the case for Christ.
2. He makes a case for the authenticity of the document against the Illiad. If the Illiad is inaccurate from the beginning and has x number of versions, it doesn't matter how many translations it's been through, or version control or whatever, it is still inaccurate. Making a comparison to this book does not increase the bible's authenticity. He quotes the nature and stature of those who kept those records as time goes by and the strictness of versioning. Well, if the 'original' was wrong to begin with, it doesn't matter how strict the Church maintains its versioning control, you're maintaining strict control of inaccuracy.
Those were my biggest objections to his logic. All in all, it was a well written book and I do recommend it.
Eat, Pray, Love.
So text books notwithstanding, it has rarely taken me so long to read a book. The book just never did generate enough excitement for me. It was slow. It was repeatitive.
The book was about the author's journey to self discovery - after a horrendous divorce and not knowing/feeling what she wanted. She made these self discoveries in the midst of her personal struggles in three place: Italy, India and Indonesia,which respectively corresponds to Eat, Pray, Love. Trying to let go of the pain of her past through an eating and traveling adventure in Italy and learning about what her "word" is (intraversero - or something - that means crossing over). Trying to find god in India through prayers and meditation with her guru, while in the meantime realizing her strengths and weaknesses and making them work. And finally, trying to find balance in her life by visiting an old Medicine Man in Indonesia (where balance is central to life on the island), in which, yes, you've guessed it, she's eventually found love on her terms as well as his.
The first chapter did a fairly good job of setting the scene: she's crying on the floor of her bathroom after realizing that she no longer wants to be married. I'm sure many women have had that thought crossed their minds many times at one or more times in their lives (and men of course). But it all went downhill from there. She just came off as whiny most of the time and perhaps that indicates my tolerance level for women crying about how tough life is. Granted, she did acknowledge that in the whole grand scheme of things, she probably doesn't have it all that bad.
The book would have been a more enjoyable read had the chapters been condensed to half of what it is. It just dragged on for too much. That or the book needs to be written in a way that can sustain attention and empathy from its readers.
The book was about the author's journey to self discovery - after a horrendous divorce and not knowing/feeling what she wanted. She made these self discoveries in the midst of her personal struggles in three place: Italy, India and Indonesia,which respectively corresponds to Eat, Pray, Love. Trying to let go of the pain of her past through an eating and traveling adventure in Italy and learning about what her "word" is (intraversero - or something - that means crossing over). Trying to find god in India through prayers and meditation with her guru, while in the meantime realizing her strengths and weaknesses and making them work. And finally, trying to find balance in her life by visiting an old Medicine Man in Indonesia (where balance is central to life on the island), in which, yes, you've guessed it, she's eventually found love on her terms as well as his.
The first chapter did a fairly good job of setting the scene: she's crying on the floor of her bathroom after realizing that she no longer wants to be married. I'm sure many women have had that thought crossed their minds many times at one or more times in their lives (and men of course). But it all went downhill from there. She just came off as whiny most of the time and perhaps that indicates my tolerance level for women crying about how tough life is. Granted, she did acknowledge that in the whole grand scheme of things, she probably doesn't have it all that bad.
The book would have been a more enjoyable read had the chapters been condensed to half of what it is. It just dragged on for too much. That or the book needs to be written in a way that can sustain attention and empathy from its readers.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Magic of The Game
Warning.....SPOILERS for the book "The Game" by Neil Strauss!
*********************************************************
Now this book - The Game - has been out for awhile, and it was only recently that I picked it up. Well, not really, I downloaded the audio book and listened to it passively while doing other stuff :p. Do these "tactics" by Pick up Artists (aka PUA) really work - Negging (soft insults...you have a nice smile, too bad you have something stuck between your teeth)? Peacocking (doing/wearing something outrageous that gets comments)? Stringing (dangling something that the other person wants but making it just out of her reach)? Punishment (self explanatory)?
It's sad that smart and attractive women would fall for these tricks. This book really shows you a great social phenomenon, the evolution (or perhaps the right word would be regression) of social behaviour/development. The way I see it though...these tricks only works for certain types of women. Women who need men to confirm their self-worth, that they are attractive, smart and so on. The ones who crave attention, the ones who don't know what they want. And... unfortunately, there are a lot of women who fall under those categories.
If you look at it, the typical 'geek' (those who are not as socially adept lets just say), he is usually obsessed with a "system," which is defined by a set of processes. If "A" occurs, do "B" --> If she ignores you (A), neg her (B). Or, if she starts showing interest in another guy (A), punish her by flippantly leaving her pretending you are no longer interested and make her want to get your attention (B). There are many "processes" that the book goes into.
In a nutshell...yes, these pick up tactics will work on some girls. It is a good "one night stand" tactic book, but it does not tell you how to keep the girl. It will help the nerds, geeks or whomever to "break out of their shell", break the ice etc. But if you have nothing else to offer after using the system, once the program ends and there are no more processes to follow, the facade ends and you are alone again.
And yes...players sometimes gets played. You can't win all the time.
So that's my 2cents...
*********************************************************
Now this book - The Game - has been out for awhile, and it was only recently that I picked it up. Well, not really, I downloaded the audio book and listened to it passively while doing other stuff :p. Do these "tactics" by Pick up Artists (aka PUA) really work - Negging (soft insults...you have a nice smile, too bad you have something stuck between your teeth)? Peacocking (doing/wearing something outrageous that gets comments)? Stringing (dangling something that the other person wants but making it just out of her reach)? Punishment (self explanatory)?
It's sad that smart and attractive women would fall for these tricks. This book really shows you a great social phenomenon, the evolution (or perhaps the right word would be regression) of social behaviour/development. The way I see it though...these tricks only works for certain types of women. Women who need men to confirm their self-worth, that they are attractive, smart and so on. The ones who crave attention, the ones who don't know what they want. And... unfortunately, there are a lot of women who fall under those categories.
If you look at it, the typical 'geek' (those who are not as socially adept lets just say), he is usually obsessed with a "system," which is defined by a set of processes. If "A" occurs, do "B" --> If she ignores you (A), neg her (B). Or, if she starts showing interest in another guy (A), punish her by flippantly leaving her pretending you are no longer interested and make her want to get your attention (B). There are many "processes" that the book goes into.
In a nutshell...yes, these pick up tactics will work on some girls. It is a good "one night stand" tactic book, but it does not tell you how to keep the girl. It will help the nerds, geeks or whomever to "break out of their shell", break the ice etc. But if you have nothing else to offer after using the system, once the program ends and there are no more processes to follow, the facade ends and you are alone again.
And yes...players sometimes gets played. You can't win all the time.
So that's my 2cents...
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